Verena Popp-Hackner - The Swiss Alps

Day 1:
Meeting with Mrs. Helge von Giese of Zermatt Tourism. Very generous help with accommodation, train tickets and a lot of great info about the region. Just blinking at the fees and prices for the railcars and hotel rooms made me shiver - without the help of Mrs. von Giese, hotel rooms and trains and railcars for one week would have eaten up all our salary!!
After the meeting we take the Gornergratbahn to Rotenboden and hike to the Riffel Lake in hope of a good evening light or sunset. Despite decent weather the Matterhorn hides behind clouds, but the pretty but smaller Lower Riffel Lake with Cotton Grass lining its shores, makes for good motives. We barely catch the last train down.

Day 2:
It’s been a clear night and I take the first train up the Gornergrat and hike to the Riffel Lake.  - 8 C°. Thankfully the days are fairly warm, so I don’t have to fear the lakes surrounding the Matterhorn will freeze. This time the Matterhorn is clearly visible but the morning sun hides behind a cloudbank, which seems to move up along with the sun, blocking the first light… Still, I get photographs in good early light but already make plans to give it another try to catch the first light touching the peak in a few days. For the next few days, other spots are reserved.
I catch the train back down, have a short breakfast, change films, load film holders, take another train up, hike to the Fluhalp at the edge of the Findelglacier. Clouds are moving in and it doesn’t look like the sun will be coming out again. From high up I spot a small shiny green lake, just were the glacier ends. It’s a risky descent, especially with all the heavy gear but I’m rewarded with nice details of the lake. I feel tired hiking all the way back up again in near dark and reach the hut just before nightfall.

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